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Twenty-Two
Rosalie
Baine shifted in front of me, his twin swords falling to the grass. The agents stalked him, and he growled, a menacing sound that sent me stepping back. I snatched one of his swords off the ground, ready to defend myself.
With the collar keeping my flame in the dark, I’d be useless without a weapon. I may not have been a swordsman, but I’d slaughtered enough beasts in the North to know how to protect myself.
Black tentacles wrapped around one of the agent’s neck, sweeping him off his feet. He screamed, and Lord Demious slammed him to the ground with a resonating crack. The magistrate’s eyes blackened and the smoke pouring from his hands created a cone of death. One of the agents pulled out a rod and waved it in a circle, creating a portal, but Lord Demious snatched the rod out of his hand and shattered it on the ground.
Rain poured from the sky and the thunder drowned out the sound of battle. A bolt of lightning hit a tree in the distance, slicing it in two and sending a shiver of fear through me.
“Set us free!” Janetta yelled, glancing back at me with frightened eyes.
Baine leaped onto one of the agents, biting his neck and crushing the man’s windpipe between his powerful jaw. I held the sword with both hands, gripping the hilt tightly, and stepping back away from the carnage.
I wiped the water off my face, blinking through the storm to see what was happening. The remaining guards fought with the Borderlands Agents who released a torrent of magic from their wands. My gaze flitted to the other girls who were separated from me now.
“Run!” I yelled at them. “Go and I’ll find the key.”
Janetta grabbed two girls and took off toward the stables while the Haalow sisters ran toward the gardens. Kelia had asked for the key, but I could’ve sworn she tossed it before stepping through the portal. If I could somehow find it . . .
Baine flew across the grass, pouncing on another agent who screamed as the wolf tore out his throat in one vicious bite. Blood splattered across the ground, soaking Baine’s coat. With a flick of his head, he tossed the flesh in his mouth to the grass. I blinked at the awful sight, trying to remember these men were trying to take us into war and they deserved their gruesome fate.
Still, the gory sight turned my stomach.
Sword in hand, I ran alongside the outskirts of the fighting, searching the blood-smeared ground for that key. I slipped, falling onto the grass, and dropping the sword. Baine growled, causing me to turn. He eyed me and shook his head, almost as if he was telling me to run.
“Watch out!” I screamed at him.
His momentary distraction caused one of the agents to sneak up behind him and blast him with a charge from a wand. Baine howled and fell on his back.
“Baine!”
Someone grabbed me from behind in a headlock, quickly covering my mouth with their hand. I’d been so distracted on the scene in front of me, I didn’t think to check behind me. I kicked across the ground as the man kept his arm around my throat, dragging me away from the battle.
I tried to yell, but only gurgled a helpless plea. Digging my nails into my attacker’s skin, I kicked and clawed at the person holding me, begging Baine to notice what was happening to me.
“Open the portal,” the man holding me said.
Glancing back, another agent stood by the trees. They’d pulled me around the corner of the mansion, blocked from where everyone else fought.
No. No.
My flame flickered, fighting to break free of the magical darkness the collar had stuffed it in, but no matter how hard I tried, no matter how deep I searched, the fire inside me wasn’t strong enough to overpower the dampener.
No one saw me disappear. I’d be dragged away to war, never saying goodbye, never seeing my home again. Never seeing Baine . . .
White dots blinked in and out of my vision as the agent dragged me across the hard ground, closer to the swirling circle of magic leading to a place of death and darkness. My body flipped over, hitting my chin on a rock, shooting pain through my jaw. The Borderlands shimmered through the portal; a tattered outpost under siege, surrounded by a barren area coated in a sandy beige blanket that sent a wave of panic through my body.
“Hurry,” one of the agents said, waving at his companion to move faster.
I slapped, hit, kicked, anything to give me a chance to dislodge myself.
The agent dragging me removed his hand and punched me in the face, causing my mind to haze and the fight in me to momentarily leave my body. He yanked me off the ground, lifted me into his arms and ran toward the portal, his companion going in first.
At the last moment, lightning zipped behind me, separating me from the agent. I cried and fell sideways, rolling out of the way and back into Farrow’s Gate.
Baine, still in his wolf form, and glowing in blue light, tore at the agent who held me only a moment ago, shredding the man to pieces as they both disappeared into the portal.
